Meran Paul, Features Editor
Dr. Misra is an associate professor of Economics at Sewanee. Originally hailing from Lucknow in India, Dr. Misra completed his undergraduate degree from Delhi University. He then pursued his master’s degree at the London School of Economics and completed his PhD from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Before coming to Sewanee, Misra taught at the University of Maryland at College Park for a year and a half. At Sewanee, he teaches courses on development economics, microeconomics, and political economy.
The Sewanee Purple sat down with Dr. Misra and got to know more about his background and story.
What drove you to economics, and how did your interest begin?
“Actually, I always wanted to be a journalist. I came to Delhi to study English and then go to journalism school. It was just a sheer stroke of luck that I ended up studying economics. Getting admission in Delhi University is extremely difficult, and your school-leaving grades need to be like 99%. But they do have lateral entries. I used to debate a lot in school. I applied through the debating route and made it. Someone else around the same time had also applied through the dramatics route. He wanted to study economics, and I wanted to study English. We both got admission, but his school-leaving grades were even worse than mine. The economics department was a bit worried about his mathematics. So we said, let’s just switch, see how it goes. I’d never seen an economics book in my life. Interestingly, the moment I read economics, I felt at home. I don’t even know when journalism or any other option just went out the window. It was just intuitive; it was interesting.”
How did going to the University of Delhi, LSE, and UMass shape your approach to economics?
“That’s a big question. I think the biggest change in my life to date was when I moved from Lucknow to Delhi. That 500 kilometers is the biggest gap I have ever encountered. I went to London after that and later moved to the US, but the gap between Lucknow and Delhi is the widest gap I have ever encountered. My whole world changed in my undergrad years. I became politically aware, finding out about conflicts in Israel and Palestine, Kashmir, and groups like the Naxals and Maoists in India. I heard of figures such as Noam Chomsky and Arundhati Roy for the first time. The old edifice of knowledge that I had built was falling, and I was finding out about the world. I was finding out about America. I was thinking about colonization in a different way.
“The next big change happened when I took a course in labor economics. Labor economics is a very empirical course. Most of what we know about empirical methods in economics has been innovated through the study of labor economics. Through that course, I was introduced to papers which are addressing old questions, using cutting-edge econometrics. I realised some of my close ideological beliefs were not standing up to empirical scrutiny. I believe science requires you to change your opinions. I am in the process of finding out where opinions and empirics are at loggerheads, trying to unlearn and rethink continuously.”
What’s a current research project you’re working on?
“I’m working on two projects. One of them is related to the study of political Institutions in India. I am studying how the scars of the British-established electoral system still impact Indian politics and economics. For example, why is there such a lacuna of nationally recognizable Muslim politicians despite a population of 250 million? Is it related to the social and economic disadvantages they faced?
“Second, I’m analyzing how India’s employment guarantee program affects agricultural production. We know this program is raising wages, but what is it doing to farmers who are the employers of workers, now demanding higher wages? How are they coping?”
What’s your core teaching philosophy?
“I really want students to be confused. By definition, the only way to teach social sciences, particularly economics, is by really simplifying and sanitizing the world. Otherwise, the world is just too complex to understand. I want students to know this, and then to know that once you allow for more realistic assumptions to come in, then economics has pretty much nothing useful to say. For most questions, our answers are we don’t know, or it depends.
“So the nature of the beast is such that it’s unknowable. Economics is trying to study something systematically through axioms and theories, which is perhaps not a science. It is wearing a gown of scientific rigor to analyze human behavior. Now, if you’ve met human beings, if you are a human being, you know that people make all kinds of choices? People do things for all sorts of reasons. People do things out of kindness. People do things because their friends want them to do things. People do things under pressure. Trying to fit this human being into an economics textbook is very hard. Sometimes impossibly hard. To know that this is the best we can do to make the study systematic, but this is not necessarily a reflection of the world, is important to realize.
“My ideal day would be when I am teaching a class, and at the end of it, someone gets up and says, “You have taken my time, you are not telling me anything about the world I live in. This is not the world I live in. The world that your textbook is describing is not my world”. That is where I want everyone to go.”
How do you balance work and life? What do you do outside of school?.
“I have two kids. One of them is three and a half years old, the other one is 14 months old. So now I’m mostly balancing both around kids. But before that, I used to like traveling. I remember there was a time when I would read books. I’m really fond of cooking, as my microeconomics students will tell you. I am an exceptional chef of Chinese food. At least, I had them believe so (Laughs).
“I am really fond of running. I have spent close to eight years of my life trying to get into a habit of running.”
What’s something students would be surprised to learn about you?
“I read a lot of history. I listen to history podcasts. For the past many years, I have been almost exclusively reading history in my spare time. Mostly South Asian history – subaltern voices, more mainstream South Asian history, but also a history around the Second World War, and around the rise of colonization: Spanish Empire, British Empire, obviously. The Japanese Empire, interestingly. The Soviets. Russian Empire.”
Is there a new skill or hobby you’re trying to learn?
“Yes, I am really trying to learn how to read Urdu. I am hugely fond of Urdu poetry. I can recite a lot of poems by heart. I really like them. That’s why I’ve named both my sons after poets: Kabir and Sahir. Kabir was a 15th-century mystic poet, and Sahir a 20th-century lyrical one.”
What’s been your most rewarding moment at Sewanee so far?
“There have been lots of amazing moments. I remember one that happened a couple of years ago when I was just coming into my office. I was gone for my sabbatical, and there was this group of students, just sitting here. And first, I thought it was an ambush or something, maybe they’re coming to fight over half a point I had taken from some test. And then they said they were doing their research on topics that they have learnt about from development or political economy, and I thought that was very, very humbling, and that was very rewarding. It was a good day.”
Why did you choose to be a professor?
“I really like teaching. My partner says I’m funnier on the days I teach. I feel less pessimistic about the world. I like being in a classroom and talking to students. The other reason is that I really like the freedom that this job gives. I get to teach what I want, what I think is important. More importantly, I get to research what I think is important, and can you really think of any other job where most of what you are paid for is doing things that you like? I just get to read, do what I want. Suppose I tell my colleagues that I spent the whole day reading, you know? That is expected. Everyone will be happy about it. Which job can you think of where most people will say, ‘Okay, do what you want’? So it really has a lot of pros.”
If you were not a professor, what would you be?
“If I ever get published in the top five Econ journals, I will start thinking of an alternative career. I have a long list. Here are my options: I really want to start a Chinese food truck. I mean, if this teaching career tanks, that is always my callback position. I really want to dabble in stand-up comedy. I still don’t think it’s too late for me to try my hand at Bollywood. I’m sure someone will be waiting for me there (Laughing). And finally, if none of these work out, I’m going into politics.”
Dr. Misra benefits from three systems of education – the Indian, the British, and the American – giving him a comparative lens and opportunity to choose from the best practices from all three. If you are interested in a dynamic exploration of economics and politics, and want to take a course with a funny professor who brings chocolates to class and challenges your intellectual rigour, make sure to check out Dr. Misra’s classes.
And if you happen to spot a food truck near campus serving five-star kung pao, or catch a late-night stand-up featuring a surprisingly insightful economist, don’t worry. Dr. Misra hasn’t given up on teaching yet – he might just be keeping his career options open.